Sports Highlights 11.02.15

 

First Field Hockey won both of its games this week to push its record to an impressive 12-1-1 and set a five-game winning streak heading into the final stretch of the season. The girls won against both Suffield Academy and Canterbury by identical scores of 6-0, exhibiting both strong offense and stifling defense.

 

In a rare Tuesday afternoon game, the girls took on the Tigers from Suffield at home. The Martlet offense had some particularly nice efforts to get the ball into the circle consistently to open up good scoring opportunities. Eliza Mell '16 did a great job of stepping up strong and keeping out her opponents; she also worked very well with her midfielders, Kendall Brown '17 and Catherine Crawley '16 to continually push the ball back up field.

 

On Saturday afternoon, the squad started slow in front of a Family Weekend crowd, but picked up the pace throughout the first half to take a 4-0 lead into the break. Sarah Melanson '16 got the scoring started, followed by two quick back-to-back goals from Sarah Migliori '16 and another from Emma Stevens '16. In the second - a half that saw the Martlets take control of possession and play much cleaner field hockey - Mell found the cage, and then Migliori scored her third to put the game on ice.

 

 

The Martlets played one of their best games of the season in a cold and rainy Wednesday afternoon game against Loomis Chaffee. Rylan Williams '15 and Connor Lloyd '15 had outstanding games in the midfield, while Griffin Price ’16 held the Pelicans at bay with solid goaltending. The game was fiercely played and evenly matched until, with just 12 minutes remaining, Jack Griffith '17 took a well-placed set-piece kick from just outside of the box that skimmed the keeper's fingertips and hit the net. Westminster had a few key opportunities soon after, as momentum seemed to have shifted fully into their favor, with a header missing by inches and a clean shot in the box bouncing off of the top post, but the boys couldn't find the crucial goal that would provide an added cushion.

Loomis found life at the very end when a confusing call gave them one last chance to equalize. After the game buzzer sounded, the Martlet benched rushed the field to celebrate, but the ref signaled that there was additional time remaining that hadn't been accounted for. The Pelicans were given a set ball past midfield, which the kicker swung into the box. The ball bounced around as seconds ticked by, but the whistle still didn't blow, and a Loomis player was finally able to get his foot on the ball and place it into the left corner as time ran out. It was an unfortunate end to a game in which the Westminster team overcame the miserable weather to give a terrific effort. The final 1-1 tie stings, but the boys have plenty to feel good about. 

 

 

With a Family Weekend crowd watching from the overlook that sits above the home pitch, the girls exploded on offense and played tenacious defense to defeat Canterbury 7-0. Westminster came out firing from the opening whistle, controlling possession with precise passes and smart runs into the box to take a 6-0 lead by halftime. While the team was only able to score once more in the second, they maintained their control of the game, getting some impressive performances from the defensive unit, which kept Canterbury from getting any clean shots at goal.

 

 

On a picture-perfect fall day, the Westminster Cross Country team hosted the visiting Canterbury Saints and Trinity-Pawling Pride squads for the second home meet of the season. This time, the fields were packed with other games, and spectators and their vehicles made for a chaotic scene, but the competition was solid and allowed the Martlets to focus on their race.

For the First Boys’ team, three lead runners came onto the track for the final quarter mile, but by 100 yards into the sprint, Emmett de Kanter '19 pulled away and ran uncontested across the finish line in a personal record time of 17:43. This time moves him into third place on the all-time Westminster course times! The T-P Pride pack then followed, take the next four positions before co-captains Jordan Gabbidon '17 and Ben Shaver '16 came in. Two more T-P runners completed their top five and sealed their victory, but Matt Consentino '18 and Daniel Chey '18 closed out our top five so there would be no more displacers. By the end of the race, six of the seven First team runners (de Kanter, Shaver, Cosentino, Chey, Peter Horsfall '17 and Matt Norris '19) ran lifetime bests on the course, with significant drops over these past four weeks.

 

While the Girls’ team was unable to push enough runners past the middle of the Saints lineup to take a win, six of nine runners ran their fastest times at home. Leading the pack was Oumou Kanoute '17, who channeled her inner fire to come in second overall and shatter her best time by 20 seconds (21:45). Fast runners have the biggest challenge lowering their personal bests and it was rewarding for Kanoute to topple one of her times. Abigayle Hovey '18 (23:08) finished third but was somewhat off her fastest pace, while Sarah Minella '17 put in another fine effort, earning her personal best (24:19). With Katherine Ogden '16 out due to a pesky blister situation, it was up to Nicole Fox '16 to fill the void, and she stepped up to have an outstanding showing. Heading onto the track, her competitive streak shined as she picked off Saints one by one to finish at her personal best time of 26:02. Maggie Chaves '19 rounded out the top five at 26:46. 

 

The Second Boys’ team was able to show off to the Family Weekend crowd the remarkable improvements they have made in the short six weeks that they have been running. Eleven of thirteen runners posted lifetime bests on the home course, with some remarkable improvements for some of the younger runners. Leading the pack was Justin Schuster '19, who dropped 1:43 from his previous best to earn the top Second team spot. He was closely followed by Simon Aber '18 (2:46 improvement!), John Rao '17 (0:44 improvement), Teagan Stedman '18 (0:19 improvement), and Andrew Doucette '18 (1:23 improvement). Rounding out the displacers for the Second team were Nate Londal '19 (0:28 improvement) and Sean Ryan '18 (0:43 improvement). Other notable performances were had by Matt Swenson '17 (2:35 improvement!) and Ethan Na '19 (2:12 improvement!).

 

 

Westminster controlled the ball well in front of a big Family Weekend crowd and launched shots at the Canterbury keeper all afternoon en route to a 4-0 victory over the Saints. Canterbury threatened on several speedy counterattacks, but the boys thwarted them with good defense by Connor Seeley '18, Jackson Andrews '17 and Chanler Miller '18. After a scoreless first half the Martlets came out determined to find the net in the second, which Walker Stevens '19 did within two minutes of the whistle. Aly Tolba '18 found space a few minutes later and scored with a nice shot from 15 yards in front of the goal. In the 54th minute, Wick Carter '19 found himself isolated on the left side and turned in, beating his man and sending a short cross in to Ken Barnes '16, who touched it in with a volley to make the score 3-0. In the 68th minute, Max Powers '17 gathered a Riley Wood '19 corner kick fifteen yards outside the box on the right side, took a touch forward and laid a beautiful ball in toward the danger zone, where Myles Hamm '17 heeled it in for the final goal. Great weather and big goals for the home team - a perfect combination for Family Weekend!

 

 

Westminster played a solid game on Friday afternoon against a fast and aggressive Granby team to win 1-0. The midfielders played hard to keep ball in the Martlets' offensive end. Westminster managed to maintain possession for the majority of the second half but struggled to convert the possession to goals. Overall, it was a good showing for the team, with everyone doing their jobs to eke out a win. Shout out to Ally Marenco '18 for stopping the ball and effectively clearing it out to the side a few times throughout the game.